Uberoo

yesterday I had to help my friend out because he locked his keys in his car.His car is a Cobalt with snow tires up front and summer tires in the back.One would think that car would be a handful to drive.But with my car I couldn't even keep up because of the skittish behavior.

has anyone made a sedan RWD?Did it change the "percieved" handling balance? When I bought the car and decided to use it as a daily driver instead of a parts car,I thought that because its a subaru gravel,snow,etc would be its second home.Not so much.The car is very skittery on gravel or snow,to the point that I rarely feel comfortable taking it past 45 on snow/gravel or 65 on pavement. Then it understeers like no other on snow or loose gravel.Not to mention it has snow tires all around.Granted they arn't brand new,but they are snow tires with like 90% tread.They arn't the modern slicks with sipes but the old school aggressive snow tires.I just don't understand what makes this FWD sedan so terrible on anything other than pavement.I mean my old 1990 Saab 900 did better in snow and gravel with 205/60/15 ultra high performance summer tires.Compared to the legacy's 185/70/14.Both cars are FWD and weigh about the same so whats the deal with the legacy? I was kinda thinking of converting the legacy to RWD so I could have some fun on gravel/pavement but Im wondering if it will change in any appreciable way how the car handles?will it still be skittery and plow through corners?

I drove about 50 miles without the alternator working and a dead clutch(use the starter at every stop) 14 miles is nothing.

thanks jeff.Did you not read my previous post?I, myself actually put my idea down and called a stop to it after I did some research.I found out that it wouldn't durable enough or safe enough.I did say that I might try something like that latter when I have the money and the skills to do it right ,but because you don't read my posts you musta missed that..

I started thinking the same thing when I started figuring the math out.#50 chain is good for 6100 LBs tensile strength.On the surface it looked good until you factor in the torque multiplication from the transmission,the drag rolling down the road,tire inertia,etc.Ended up figuring out that just starting out in 2wd leaves about 1000 lbs of tensile strength left.Go up any hill or introduce any shock loading-like wheel hop and you would easily shatter the chain.After looking at that I realized even 60 chain would be too fragile.So if I was to do it,I would use gears.However,I lack the money and the shop to make this work and be safe,for now.So I will focus on cheaper proven ideas for right now.Atleast until I have more money to spend.

how to they test your airbag if the airbag computer is in a landfill somewhere? storage space from a non airbag center counsel is great.

My daily driver car is a 93 front driver subaru legacy.Between it understeering unless I make a big move or incinerating tires if I press the gas to hard .The spining tires doesn't bother me but it when it spins it wants to go into the other lane. Anyway I was thinking of either selling it an getting a 90-94 AWD manual sedan or even just converting it to awd.With one kicker on both options,I would be disabling the the AWD.I was thinking just running Cv stub shafts to keep the wheel bearings happy and welding the center diff.My question is this: exactly how much work is it to weld the center diff and put the transmission back together so it works? thanks in advance.

I have access to a FWD EA82 wagon that I probably could use for parts.Just right now its under three feet of snow..so longer suspension travel will have to wait.For now anyway, at least until the snow clears up.

I was thinking of using alot of old subaru parts to make it happen.I was thinking the splined section of a subaru hub for the top sprocket to attach to the axle,and then an outer CV cup/stub shaft from the lower sprocket to the hub of the vehicle.I know it would never last as long as any part from the factory but it would probably last longer than the EA81 body I have.

i checked with some of the shops around town.#50 chain should work.However, it wouldn't be advisable to romp on it in 2wd at low speeds on solid ground. Found that it would be better to go with a 10/20 tooth combo rather than a 9/18 combo because the 10 tooth sprocket will have more teeth in the chain at any one time.Witch would increase the load carrying capacity. Why exactly would I need a machine shop to get the chain to work right?Chain by its very nature can absorb the mounting points not being super precise.Other than just having the chain inline with each other is all thats really needed anyway.Besides the tensioner can take up alot of imperfections.We are talking tape measure close not micrometer close. I'm gonna try to get this to work,but have patience.Im working on a less than college budget of $150 a month,most of that goes to gas. I don't have a shop.I work on cars out on the asphalt or dirt.I don't even have a welder.The only metal working tools I have are a cheapo grinder and a hammer.I dunno I am blessed with or cursed with lots of ideas but no money right now to act them out. rather than simply putting down my ideas because it seems like they never get anywhere maybe you should instead offer suggestions on how to do that idea most effectively with my limited budget. to get an idea of how poor/broke I am, a car worth $2000 is like a bently compared to what I can drive/afford. so all the people who seem to think that my posts lead to nothing why not try putting yourself in my shoes.Lots of ideas,no shop,no money. finally for people suggesting that I should just get a more capable rig.Show me a vehicle that gets decent MPG(17 or better) while out tooling around in the woods,has IFS/IRS front and rear,and is 4wd then we will talk.

everyone please don't rush to sign up there and post pics of your roo,like we did on the peterson's forums...

Then it won't be a subaru anymore.I believe that to be a subaru- the engine and most of the drive train must be subaru of some year. Otherwise I could put a subaru on a 4x4 chevy frame and running gear.All it is then is a chevy pickup with a subaru body kit.At the very least though it must have a subaru engine. BTW have you got that clutch hooked up on the sedamn?

Hummer hubs are way to expensive.besides from looking online all the pieces needed to do this would run about 200 or so. plus hummer hubs spin backwards so I would have 5 reverse gears and one forward gear.

why would steering effort change when backing up?

I wonder if any of the shops around town will be open tomorrow might be able to look at the various pieces and see if they would be strong enough..that and start tabulating costs...

Im drawing up a 2:1 chain reduction hub to go on each corner of a subaru suspension. A quick gearing calculation with the 2:1 hub plus subaru stuff gives a 27.65 ratio in 1st HI,and a 44.02 ratio in 1st low. with 33" tires it would go 1.67 MPH at idle in 1st LO 3 MPH in 1st HI at idle and 65 MPH at 4000 RPM in 5th HI The gear reduction box would use #60 chain.The top sprocket would be 9 teeth and the bottom would be 18. The box would be roughly 9" tall and 1 1/2" wide.The top sprocket would attach some how to the axle.The bottom sprocket would transmit the power to the subaru hubs. At stock ride height (no suspension lift) with the reduction box in place and 33" tires it would give a theoretical ground clearance of 33.5". Then because the reduction box would be after the axles, the axles would be stressed just as much as normal. I'm kinda Hung up on if the chain will be strong enough.I plan to use #60 chain.The chain is 1/2 wide(the area that the sprocket contacts). Im just kinda wondering if it will hold up to 33" tires and an EA81.If it will there are several companies in lewiston that sell gears.So it probably wouldn't be too hard to rig up a prototype.. to make it work I would need the splined section from a subaru hub for the axle to go into,and then a outer CV cup to go into the vehicle hub. It doesnt seem like it would be hard to make: some chain,two gears,method of connecting unit to car,metal for the housing.. I wonder if an EA81 would even have enough snot to turn 33" tires in 1st gear+ 2:1 reduction.. at least enough to get started in town..

Is it a good idea to push the axle forward?wont that make the angles too extreme?it would be nice to get a bit more approach angle. but moving the tire forward plus 2" lift seems like it would destroy even the EA82 axles..

what about doing both?put EA82 front suspension and move the radius rod?Then I suppose I could put Baja bug strut inserts to get more travel..

I just rembered I had some old shocks for a early 90's ford exploder.so I took off one rear shock to compare the two. Stock is 13" compressed and 17.5" extended exploder is 15" compressed and 26 extended think that might be a problem?haha Right up until I try to test fit the exploder shock-the two mounting holes are just slightly narrower than stock and they use a smaller bolt.Easily fixable though. also while we are at it.On an EA81 with the torsion bar holding everything up what is the point of a shock?I put the tire on so I could go back inside.But then I tested the suspension on both sides.with a shock in place the rear suspension was alot stiffer,with out a shock it wasn't too bad.Might not want to rally around corners though,but it allowed everything to flex well. I suppose at higher speeds without shocks in the back to control sway it might be kinda dangerous..So on that note anyone know the part number for the rancho shock that will fit,or even a stock part that would work and be cheaper...

it been a while sense ive had to put gear oil in anything.I recently rebuilt a transmission but rather than use gear oil I filled it full to the brim(clear to the top of the transmission through the shifter hole) with 30 wt engine oil.The lighter weight oil actually can lubricate the the worn synchros better than the gear oil because the gear oil won't flow into the synchros...Thats for a mazda B2200 transmission. However I will get 3 Qts of hypoid gear oil..

I lost my cap on my 83 wagon.Now Im running the lower half of a MT dew can.Its just as tight as the stocker..especially cause the can is crunched down tight n the oil fill tube...Never thought of useing the legacy style filler...

ive heard that if I take the strut,hub,axle,and tire rod ends of an EA82 and then extend the stock control arm 1 3/4" I can get more travel due to the the additional length.Does anyone know if that combo would work without having ridiculous camber? Also if it will work can the front suspension work from a FWD EA82?

Might have to cycle the suspension though and see if the axle is touching somewhere during travel.That would definably kill some travel.

I wonder what would happen if the lower control arm was mounted further inboard,IE directly under the center line of the inner joint? with the two inch lift making it so I have no down travel is that an indicator that the axle is limiting travel?

according to the 1983 owners manual the 4 speed DR takes 3.2 Qts.Doesn't say the weight though.